Madness is Key
by Just-Me-and-My-Brain
Summary: Asura is awakening and Lord Death needs help. But the only person who could help him is anything but willing... and anything but sane.
1. Madness

Lord Death sighed as he looked into his mirror. _It's getting closer… Asura's presence is growing every day. And with the way things are looking…_

Death didn't want to finish that thought, but the mental barrier blocking the idea was soon smashed. _He will escape my city soon._

Lord Death sighed and looked around the Death Room, knowing that he wouldn't find Spirit but still finding the urge to at least check.

When he found that he was indeed alone in his room he began to truly think over something he had been wondering for a long time. _Should I really bring _her_ back into the mix? She still hasn't gotten over the last time…_ Lord Death felt a pang of regret and self-loathing at the realization. _But, _he turned to the mirror; _she may be the only chance I have._

Lord Death waited as the mirror rippled and shifted to project a dark room with thick stone walls. The was a bed shoved into the corner of the room and bolted to the floor, a thinly worn blanket was crumpled on top of it, laid next to what was left of a torn and mutilated pillow.

Lord Death sighed as he glanced around the room, searching for the person he was looking for. His eyes landed on a figure huddled into the corner of the room across from the bed.

The woman had shoulder-length, straight, white hair, and deep green eyes. While she looked weakly skinny, there was an aura around her that instantly made you sure that no matter how strong you were, she could overcome you within a few minutes. Her skin looked sickly pale and inhumanly thin in the dark lighting. Her clothes consisted of a torn yellow long sleeve shirt and a pair of dirty gray sweatpants that hung pitifully on her quaking frame.

"Hello? Audie? Are you awake?" Lord Death called into the room, hoping that she would pay attention to him.

The woman's frame shook suddenly, shoulders moving up and down as she laughed silently. "Hello-oooo-" The woman looked into the mirror.

Lord Death could see the insanity practically seeping from the woman- next to Asura, she was the next strongest person he'd ever known, and the most insane.

"Audie, could you try to focus? Please, I need to have a word with you." Lord Death realized that he sounded like he was begging and immediately stopped talking.

"Lord Death! Did you know? Asura! Asura's coming- he's coming back! Very soon, Lord Death- very, _very_ soon." Audie giggled as she fell over and rolled on the ground with laughter.

"Audie, I will be sending someone to bring you to the Death Room. Please do whatever you need to do to get yourself ready." Lord Death canceled the signal before she could reply, not wanting to look at the person any more than he'd have to.

He studied his reflection for a second, taking a deep breath to calm himself from the sight he had just witnessed.

"_You need to do this- so just come on!"_ A voice yelled at him from inside his head.

The mirror warped once more to show an almost empty class room, where only Marie and Sid stood, quietly discussing matters about the students.

"Hello!" Lord Death bounced in his spot and waited until he had the attention of the miester and weapon.

"Good afternoon, Lord Death!" Marie smiled and bowed politely.

"Lord Death." Sid acknowledged him with a bow that nearly matched Marie's.

"Hiya, Hiya! Now, Sid, Marie; I have an important task that you need to do." Lord Death stopped bouncing.

"Yes? What do you need?" Marie approached the mirror.

"I need you and Sid to go into the lower sections of the school and get Audie for me." Lord Death saw the tiredness already crawling onto their faces.

"Yes sir." Sid nodded.

"If you could do it as quickly as possible and bring her to the Death Room- preferably with low sightings by the students, that would be splendid!" Lord Death gave two thumbs up.

"Yes sir, we're on it." Sid nodded.

Lord Death let the mirror go blank again.

* * *

It had been almost twenty minutes; Lord Death was slowly growing anxious. _Where are they? They should have been here by now!_ He moved to send a message with the mirror when a sudden crash and the erupting sound of doors being kicked open echoed through the Death Room.

Lord Death turned around to watch as Sid struggled to hold a struggling woman still, Marie was obviously trying to communicate with the lady but appeared to be getting nowhere with her efforts.

"Lord Death… we got her." Sid was panting hard as he let her go and watched her stumble up the stairs toward the reaper.

"Yes, thank you Sid. You may leave." Lord Death nodded and the zombie bowed gratefully.

"Marie, before you go could you try to quiet Audie down?" Lord Death sighed as he looked at the woman who was currently rolling on the floor in a fit of giggles.

"Of course." Marie moved quickly and placed a hand on the female's head, as she focused, the laughing turned to giggles which became chuckles and eventually nothing at all. When she stood up, the woman beneath her was as sober and sane as anyone else.

"Thank you. You are dismissed." Lord Death bounced and waited until the door shut behind her for him to begin his conversation with the old friend for whom he had a very difficult favor to ask.


	2. Discussions

**Chapter 2; Discussions**

"Lord Death." Audie picked herself up from off the floor and frowned at the cloaked figure.

"Audie." Lord Death bounced in place, craving to relieve some of the high tension that was quickly building up in the enclosed room. "So how are you?" He clapped his hands together.

"What did you need?" The woman brushed off his small talk and got directly to the point.

"Well, as you know, the witches are planning to try to break into my school so that they can revive Asura… while I doubt that they can accomplish such a feat, I want to be prepared. In the case that Asura is awoken…" Lord Death trailed off, not knowing how to word the question he wanted to pose.

Audie seemed to have already caught on and there was a distinct trace of fear behind the calmness in her eyes. "You want me to go with him again?"

Lord Death turned around, not wanting to meet her gaze. "Yes."

"But… you said I wouldn't need to!" Her voice was pleading and seemed to be growing into panic by the second. "You said that there would never be another situation like that again!"

"I know what I said." Lord Death stayed still, still gazing at the clouds that drifted around his fake sky.

"Do you know how much that affected me?" Audie walked quickly around the figure and soon faced Death's mask again.

"Yes." Lord Death nodded, finally allowing himself to look at the girl.

"And you're asking me to do it _again_?" The woman looked heartbroken.

"Yes." Lord Death sighed, starting to feel a weight press down on his chest that he had not felt so strongly in a long time.

"Fine…" The woman walked past him and moved to leave the stage.

"Why?" Lord Death grabbed her arm as gently as possible and made her turn around.

"Because I volunteered to… all those many years ago… and I still will." Audie nodded before jerking her arm away.

They stood in silence for a moment, watching each other.

"Did you know?" Audie's face suddenly cracked into a huge smile.

"What?" Lord Death felt the insanity beginning to creep back into her soul.

"I…" Audie's face shifted back to normal, a swell of tears filled her eyes to match the deep fear that was gathering to join them.

"Audie?" Lord Death frowned and pulled her into a comforting hug.

"Lord Death… I'm going to die this time." Her voice barely strung out into a whisper.

"No." Death pulled her away and held her shoulders, forcing her to look up at him. "I promise to keep you safe- every way that I can."

The woman frowned but nodded, down casting her eyes to the floor.

"Go back to your room… I'll have dinner sent down in a short while." Lord Death patted her head.

"One more thing…" Audie looked up at the reaper.

"Yes? And that would be…?" Lord Death folded his hands and tilted his head.

"Where is Cadmon?" The woman's broken gaze pierced Lord Death like a spear.

"Well…" Lord Death began but was immediately shut up by a hand slapping across his face.

"No excuses! Where _is_ he?" Audie scowled at the reaper's shocked appearance.

_She wants it blunt? Fine._ "He's dead." Lord Death frowned. "We had to kill him- the insanity got to him and he was trying to attack us."

The woman suddenly looked like she couldn't breathe; her eyes were open wide with shock.

Death immediately felt waves of guilt wash over him. _That wasn't blunt- that was cruel and heartless!_ "Audie…"

"No." The woman turned her back to him and looked to be trembling from crying for a minute, Lord Death watched her quietly and nearly jumped back in surprise when she whipped around with a large smile on her face.

"Interesting!" The woman looked at him.

"I'll talk to you later." Lord Death spoke sternly before summoning Marie into the room to escort Audie back to her room.

_Now all that's left is to wait._


	3. Chat

_Well, I'm glad that MOST of you are enjoying my story... although I must suggest that the reader know as Ashley should stop reading if they dislike the story as much as they say they have- and that they really shouldn't write such rude reviews, it won't get them anywhere in life. Thank you._

* * *

**Chat**

"Well, here we are!" Marie tried to hide her nervousness as she pointed at the woman's cell, but from the glances she kept receiving from Audie, she wasn't hiding it very well.

_Leave it Lord Death to make me do the scary work!_ Marie frowned upon the reminder that she was beneath the school… with an insane killer… _alone_.

"Thank you." Audie gave a polite bow before opening her door and handing Marie the key she had used.

"Oh, it's no problem!" Marie turned away, "I'll be going now."

"No!" Marie felt a hand wrap around her wrist fester than she thought was possible.

She turned around to face the white-haired woman and immediately felt her heart start to melt as she saw the frightened expression that embroidered Audie's face.

"Stay… please?" The woman's eyes were wide and quickly reminded Marie of a scared child; she surveyed the rest of the woman's quaking body before staring at the floor in thought.

The weapon felt the human reply of _"Yes, of course." _on her lips but looked up at the last second to see the insane glare and slightly murderous intent that was held in Audie's eyes.

"No." Marie pulled her hand away quickly and pushed the woman backwards so that she was far enough into the room for her to shut the door.

"Awe! But it's so lonely in here!" The voice sounded like it was whining. "I need something to play with… a corpse perhaps?" Crazed laughter erupted from the cell, echoing off the halls and driving chills down Marie's spine.

The woman hurried down the halls, the laughter chasing her up the stairs. She didn't stop until she was surrounded by students and by that time she realized that she was running.

"Marie? What's the matter?" Stein rolled up to her in his chair and gazed at her panicked face.

"A-Audie…" Marie frowned.

"Ah… come with me, I think you'd better come rest in the lounge. It's funny; we were just getting ready to discuss that very person when I felt your distress." Stein rolled ahead of her and held open the door to the teacher's room before rolling in himself, carefully bouncing so that his chair wouldn't get caught on the lip of the floor and tip as it so often did.

"So you're okay?" Sid sat down and stared at Marie while Nygus handed her a glass of water.

Marie nodded while gulping down the drink. She set it down when it was empty and stared at it. "She scares me… almost as much as Asura." She felt a security grow in her mind as she confessed that, knowing that it was a similar story for most of the people in the room.

"She's odd, I'll give her that." Sid shrugged.

"I wish I could dissect her…" Stein felt a smile growing across his face but stopped fantasizing when he saw that everyone was now watching him nervously.

"I don't even know why Lord Death bothers to keep her around!" Spirit slammed his fist on the table. "If something were to happen here we would need to worry more about her getting out and murdering half of the student population than the creature actually attacking us! It doesn't make any sense- she a risk, she's dangerous, she-"

"She was a very good friend of Lord Death's at one point in time…" Azusa interjected.

"What?" Several of the staff turned their heads to see the person who had made such a claim.

"Yes. She was a very good friend of his… but she betrayed him to help Asura." The woman went on. "After Asura was defeated, she was supposed to be put to death… but Lord Death had pity on her and let her live as long as it was under his watchful eye."

"I didn't know that they had been friends." Marie frowned.

"But why, if she was such a good friend, would he torture her by making her live this long? And let her suffer in her insanity?" Stein cocked his head, deep in thought.

"Well, what can we say? Our head master is very strange." Spirit shrugged.

The others nodded in agreement, not realizing that their "very strange head master" had been listening to the whole conversation from the mirror behind them.


	4. Thoughts

**Thoughts**

Lord Death sighed as he shut off the mirror and turned away, the voices of his employees and weapons still echoing in his brain. _"She's odd"… "She scares me"… "She's a risk"… "He tortures her"… "She was his friend"…_

The reaper frowned. _Was? Or is? Is she even the same person I knew all those many years ago?"_

Death scoffed as he sat down on the edge of the stage, "I'm letting them get to me…"

He laughed half-heartedly, just to laugh, just to fill up the empty space that was crowding every inch of the room.

_Of course she's the same… kind of… sort of… maybe. _He let himself think back to the deep conversations they would have, about philosophy and science and life. She had always been the person would be the first to go into a fight and the last to be dragged out, still kicking and screaming every profane word she could think of to the other challenger.

_Why did she have to volunteer for that job?_ Death thought back to Asura.

_ "But you see, did she really _volunteer_? Or did you push her into going for you? Did you make her feel like it was the only way to stop the madness from spreading? Or the only thing to make you smile again?" _The voice in his head laughed at him. _"Wouldn't that be something to live with? Knowing that it was your fault for all of the suffering she needs to put up with now- all the fear… wouldn't it? Huh? I didn't hear you, wouldn't it?"_

"Shut up!" Lord Death's old voice ripped though the air and tore apart the voice in his head, forcing it back into the deep hole of depression and regret that resided in the back of his mind.

_Wouldn't it? Wouldn't she have volunteered herself? Wouldn't she have wanted to be the brave one?_ _Wouldn't she have been okay with her consequences, knowing that her friend was happy?_ _Wouldn't she fight the insanity as much as possible… with it fighting back the entire time, knowing that it would win in the long run? Wouldn't she? Wouldn't I? Wouldn't it?_

* * *

_Warning for audience; the next two chapters are slightly- scratch that; very graphic... may not be for people who do not understand the meaning of a T rating... thank you. :)_


	5. Escaping

_Hello fellow fan fiction readers and writers! This is just a friendly reminder to please review. ^_^ It's really not that hard- you just click the button at the bottom of the screen, why don't you try it? I've heard that it's lots of fun and can make the writer VERY happy!_

* * *

**Escaping**

Days had flown by without anyone even noticing, and the evening of the Founders Eve party had come.

Everyone had just gotten comfortable… when the panic started.

Only a few choice students had gotten out, and everyone else was trapped like rats in a cage, just waiting to be let out.

For most of the group there was only one worry; "What happens if Asura escapes?" But for Lord Death and most of the staff there were two worries; "What happens if Asura escapes?" and "What are we going to do if Audie gets out?"

But most of the staff were comfortable worrying only about Asura_, "I mean, how would Audie get out? She's in a cell… and guarded by two well equipped men."_

* * *

"What do you think is going on up there?" The first guard, Matthew, turned to his friend, Tony, and pointed up, hinting at the party that was happening so many levels above them.

"How would I know?" Tony scoffed. "Don't try to worry about it; we only need to worry about this thing." He thumbed the door behind him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Matthew nodded, shrugged, and turned back to attention.

From inside her cell, Audie tried to stay quiet as she felt the insanity grow to measurements she had not felt in years.

_Asura's coming! He's coming back! He'll be here… just wait and see… he'll be here and kill you all like dogs!_

Audie frowned. _Wait… why does he get all the fun? I want to help- I want to play- its fun… let's have a go! Just how smart are these creatures that stand guard outside my door?_

The woman stood up and silently made her way over to her bed, removing a spring that she had loosened just for this occasion.

She crept to the door and tapped on the metal.

"Yes?" A voice called out.

"I need help." She pulled off her best innocent voice and spoke to the guard.

"What with?" The same man called again.

"Come in and see, it's my walls- there's something on it…" Audie glanced to the walls that were marvelously decorated with Asura's symbol in a highly desirable browning red.

"I won't come in." The man answered firmly.

"Can you look through the bars?" Audie stared at the eye-level gap in the door that was covered by three thick bars.

The man sighed with obvious irritation. "Fine."

Audie quickly hid the spring behind her back.

Matthew moved and glared through the bars, looking at the blood writing.

"It's the same stuff you've been drawing for a week; it's been there for awhile." He explained, turning around as he planned to step back to the side.

_Don't show your back to me! _Audie sprang forward and shot the spring out of the gap on one side of the bars, letting it curve around the man's throat before swinging back through the bars and into her open hand.

She pulled hard and smiled as she heard the banging on the door and short wheezes before there was silence.

"Hey!" The partner shook himself from shock outside the door and ripped the spring from her hands, causing a deep cut to tear across her palm.

Audie stepped to the side so that the man couldn't see her; she listened closely and, knowing human nature, knew that the man was currently checking for any kind of pulse on his buddy.

The woman reached for another thing she had made in preparation for the moment she had been waiting for, and grabbed a chunk of metal she had taken from her bed, which was wrapped in her torn pillow and blanket and had a shoe attached by one, almost severed, lace to the blanket, she glanced around before throwing it as hard as she could, causing it to smash though the window and make the shoe break and hang on a piece of broken glass near the window sill.

Audie ducked into an invisible corner and chuckled as the man bolted up and looked into her cell, "Oh no! She jumped out the window!"

The sudden sound of keys turning in the door echoed in the room before the door shot open and the second guard ran in, heading for the window and leaning over the sill.

"But… no one could survive a fall like that!" The man looked down the vent that lead farther down into the school, a special screen just ahead of him projecting different pictures of the moon so that the prisoner could "enjoy" the outdoors.

"That's the plan." Audie ran up and kicked the man in his lower back, causing him to fall into the dark hole, shattering the T.V. screen in the process.

Audie frowned when she realized that she would not be able to hear the guard hit the bottom of the shaft, and so she turned her attention to more important things, like walking though the open cell door and slaughtering every person she could find before meeting back up with Asura, who had just recently been awoken from his slumber.

She chuckled darkly as she entered the halls. _This… will be Fun!_

* * *

_Okay! Hope you liked the chapter! It's a little hard to understand HOW Audie broke out of her cell... so if you have ANY questions about it, feel free to PM me and I'll explain fully how she got out. _

_And that review button is right here! Look at that!_


	6. Escaped

**Escaped**

Audie laughed loudly and almost strained to see through the tears that were now blurring her vision.

"Be careful, men, she's a very dangerous person!" A head guard warned the group of three fighters behind him, all of them brandishing their guns at the same time.

_Like clockwork…_ Audie watched as the four men split into groups of two and then went off separately so that they could surround her.

_If it's like clockwork… they would be used to one thing and one thing only- no differences… so let's see how quickly they can adapt._ The woman stepped closer to one of the guards, causing all of the men to freeze and point their triggers before they had even gotten to the point they needed to.

Audie saw this large gap and ran through it, fleeing up the stairs.

"After her!" The head guard ordered, allowing the younger, healthier men to run up before him.

Audie did a hair-pin turn at the top of the stair case and jumped over the heads of the other guards, landing on the handrail that sat in the middle of the stair case and sliding down.

The head guard had barely enough time to blink before Audie flew off the rail and used her momentum to power her kick, nailing him beneath the chin and snapping his head and neck into an impossible angle.

She grabbed the gun from the guard and turned around again, facing the stunned group who was now watching her with terror and mild fascination.

_How coordinated are they once they've lost their leader?_ Audie held the gun up and aimed, firing barely a second after raising the gun and hitting one of the young guards directly in the head.

The sudden knock out of their friend seemed to snap them out of their daze and one of the men began firing at the threat while another turned away and screamed into a radio.

"We're under attack! Repeat; we are under attack. Audie has escaped her cell and is now returning fire on our squad!"

"What?" Sid looked at Lord Death in amazement.

"Well, I guess the barrier's down if they can call us now." Lord Death bounced cheerfully.

"Wait, how did she get a weapon?" Sid yelled into his radio.

There was static on the other end for a minute before an entirely different voice took over.

"I killed the main guard." The woman answered in a calm, but eerily happy voice.

"Ah, Audie, so what did you do with the other boys?" Sid began to feel sick.

"They were easy to take out once they didn't have anyone to give them orders." Audie chuckled and looked at the one that had been firing at her, _such bad aim… I dodged his bullets as if it were nothing… and that idiot..._ she looked at the one who had been holding the radio, who was now curled up in the corner of the stairwell.

"Are they all dead?" Sid frowned.

"All but one… as far as I can see, there are no other guards to fight… so I can have some fun with this one!" Audie chuckled.

"N-now, hold on a minute Audie…" Lord Death snatched the microphone from Sid's hand.

"Death! Oh, wow, aren't we having fun tonight? Although you should really train your guards better, because to be honest… they suck… and they have every way to prove it now." The woman's laughter filled the speaker.

"Stop this, you're not like this, you're kind and merciful!" Lord Death pleaded, hoping to reach the side of Audie that he knew was still good.

"Yeah, you're right… I should be more merciful…" Audie chuckled and purposefully held the button down to continue the transmission as she strode over to the man in the corner.

"Why don't you tell Death any last word's you have… he's the best man to tell after all." The woman chuckled as she knelt down and handed the man to radio.

"L- Lord Death… what do I do? I- I'm trapped… I- I…" The man stuttered helplessly.

"Mercy… I know not." Audie held the button down so that the sound of the gunshot would echo into the radio.

Death ground his teeth together in anger. _I have no time for this! I need to get to Asura._ Lord Death handed the radio back to Sid and flew out of the room without another word.

"Hello? Death? Did you leave already? Well, someone is still here… who?" Audie listened until the zombie cleared his throat into the radio as a reply.

"Ah! Sid… could you tell Death something for me?" Audie didn't wait for a reply. "Could you tell him that the fun is just beginning? …Thank you."

And with that last mannerism, the radio clicked off.


	7. Update

**Update **

"Lord Death, sir, are you okay?" Sid began speaking just as the reaper walked back into the death room.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine Sid." Lord Death looked at the group of weapons and teachers that had gathered in the room. "Is everyone else okay?"

He got a variety of nods and positive answers from the crowd.

"Sir, six guards are dead… Audie has escaped." Azura informed, pushing her glasses farther up her nose.

"Yes, and she wanted me to give you a message…" Sid frowned.

"Go on…" Lord Death folded his hands together.

"She said; 'The fun is just beginning'." Sid felt his forehead break out in sweat.

_That's the same words she used last time… _Lord Death stared into his sky with thought. _That means that she remembers her mission… and that she's not as insane as she's putting herself on to be._ Lord Death chuckled, _I love that woman sometimes… even if she is a mad genies._

"Lord Death? What's funny?" Spirit stepped forward.

"Nothing… a hidden message." Lord Death bounced away.

"So what do we do?" Marie frowned.

"Hope. Hope that this will all come to an end soon and that the kishen can be captured without too many problems." Lord Death faced his mirror and sighed at the state his cloak was in.

"Lord Death!" Azura's voice was excited and caused everyone to turn to her and her computer.

"Yes?" The reaper bounced in place.

"The radio, Audie forgot to take it off- she stuffed it in her pocket, it's still on." Azura looked up from the screen and smiled, "We can track her."

"Really?" Spirit nearly jumped with happiness.

"Good, begin tracking immediately." Lord Death nodded.

"If we can find her… we can find Asura, because she always stays by his side." Sid chuckled, "She really screwed up this time."

Lord Death stayed facing his mirror. _No. She didn't screw up. She planned this all out; she knew that in order to escape she would need to kill the guards and that more would come… and that they would have weapons and that at least one of them would have a radio… and that the device would be traceable. She will be the hero if she can pull this off. Let's just hope that she will not be killed before she can._


	8. Preparing

**Preparing**

"So, how did you manage to escape Death's clutches?" Asura sat comfortably while staring at his old friend.

"It wasn't that hard… the people there are idiots." Audie chuckled, feeling the madness growing inside of her, slaughtering every fear and hope of being normal and sane.

"Indeed they are." Asura nodded. "And luckily I've gotten some help so that we won't need to sacrifice our numbers to take over Death City."

"Help?" Audie cocked her head.

"Yes, from a witch named Arachne." The Kishen chuckled.

"Yes, I'm very pleased to help you all." Audie whipped around to see a witch sitting next to Asura. _Why didn't I notice her before?_

"We'll be ready to attack in a few days… as long as nobody disturbs us." The witch smiled.

A sudden noise of static burst into the air, everyone looked at Audie.

* * *

"Shoot!" Spirit picked himself off of the radio which he had accidentally touched and stared at it.

Lord Death felt another round of sweat cover his body from underneath the cloak, _If any of them heard that… Audie could be killed for such a "mistake"!_

The group listened closely.

* * *

"What was that?" Arachne looked around.

Asura barely moved but still looked tense and alert, staring suspiciously at Audie as he did so.

Audie opened her mouth to talk but was instantly cut off by one of the Kishen's scarves wrapping it's way around her throat.

"What did you do?" He stood up and shook the scarf back and forth.

"I di- didn't- didn't do… anything!" Audie argued back, feeling a sudden weight change as something dropped out of her pocket.

"Than what's this? It's a radio!" Asura screamed again.

"I must have put it there by accident!" The woman argued.

"Did you know that they can track us with these?" He waved it in front of her face.

"No!" Audie felt tears stinging her eyes as her airways opened up again and allowed her to collapse on the floor, the sound of the radio smashing echoing in her ears.

Asura stood over her, waiting, daring her to move before he sat back down next to the witch.

"So, we'll attack in a few days." Asura nodded.

The witch nodded, "As long as nobody disturbs us while we're preparing, we'll be ready to attack by then."

Audie slowly climbed back onto her couch, carefully watching Asura, who had murderous intent carved into his face.

"And nobody will disturb us, right Audie?" Asura chuckled.

"Right." Audie swallowed hard, knowing that somehow the attack Asura had just led against her had brought her back to the midpoint she was supposed to be at. _Lord Death… please hurry._


	9. Attack

**Attack**

It was barely three days after Audie's last transmission that Lord Death decided that it was time to stop being patent, sending Kid out to get the last magical tool.

Shortly after his child had gotten back, Death was reunited with his old friend, Ebon, and had decided to join the fight.

"So what will we do?" Audie spoke softly. "Death has already begun an attack."

"We will wait… you seem to forget, Audie, that I am God. Nothing can defeat me." Asura chuckled.

Audie held her tongue, _There is only one God… and it certainly isn't you._

A large, white hand suddenly reached in and grabbed Asura, a second hand came and tore Audie off her feet.

As quickly as she had been pulled from the building she was dropped into another.

Audie waved her arms and legs, hoping that there would be something to stop her from crashing into the ground of the Death Room at terminal velocity.

"I've got you, Audie!" Lord Death flew up and caught the woman, allowing the dust cloud from Asura's crash to clear before he placed the woman on the stage and went back out to face the Kishen.

"Fool!" Audie turned and felt her face drop as she saw the annoying creature that went by the name Excalibur.

She decided not to answer him but instead looked at her surroundings; she instantly spotted Death the Kid, staring at her with surprise and loathing.

"Fool." Audie whipped her head around to yell at Excalibur but found that he was instead talking more to himself.

The woman followed his eye line and saw Lord Death hovering over the ground with Asura, something bad was about to happen, she could feel it, and the feeling brought her back to complete sanity.

A bright red flash suddenly shot from Asura's location and Lord Death was moving faster, trying to beat the bullet.

Audie stood up and, without thinking, tackled Kid and Azura, covering them and forcing them lower to the ground.

Then there was darkness.


	10. Worry

**Worry**

"Have we found everyone?" Azura called out to the emergency crew, glancing at Lord Death and Spirit as they laid on the stage.

"Not everyone, there's still one person missing." One of the men answered, moving to another pile of rubble to continue his search.

"I found her!" A man across the room, closer to the stage, announced.

Several people rushed over to help dig Audie out and rush her to the stage to do anything they could to help save her life.

"Was she the one who saved me and Kid?" Azura turned and looked at Excalibur.

"Fool!" Excalibur pointed his cane. "Of course it was."

Azura sighed and looked back to the platform. _She help's Asura… why would she suddenly save my life? Or Kid's for that matter?_ She watched as they hooked up different machines and turned around to realize that everyone was talking and that Stein and Crona had come into the room with Marie.

"She's right, you know." Lord Death suddenly sat up.

"Lord Death You're alright!" Several people rushed to his side.

"Of course I'm alright- I'm the god of death after all, am I not?" Lord Death raised a hand but did nothing to stand up.

"So, where is Audie?" Lord Death looked around until he saw her a few feet away.

"We're not sure how long it will take for her to wake up…" One of the emergency crew trailed off.

"Well that's the problem… I'm not sure that she will." Lord Death sighed.


	11. Explanations

**Explanations**

"So what will you do with Audie now?" Marie eyed the woman who was still laying motionless from the blast that had occurred that had knocked almost everybody out.

"Nothing." Lord Death looked at her with worry. "She'll be free to do whatever she wants."

"What?" There was a collective response by the staff and students alike, all still overwhelmed by the idea that Asura was now gone forever.

"But, sir, she's evil! She's been helping Asura this entire time!" Spirit walk forward to check on his meister, fearing that somehow part of his reasoning had been affected by the blast he had taken earlier that day.

"No, Spirit, she's been helping us." Lord Death sighed and sat down. "There's something I need to tell you all, so come in closely."

Everyone slowly moved forward, eager to hear a story from Lord Death.

"The story I'm going to tell you is short, complicated, and starts a long time ago, in the Grim Times to be precise." Lord Death nodded when he saw that he had everyone's attention.

"Audie was, and is, a very good friend of mine. She was also willing to do anything to help me fight Asura. I hatched a plan that stood on the fact that if we could get someone with calming abilities, like Marie, to go in and befriend Asura, we could get him to stop thinking clearly and defeat him." Lord Death continued.

"I asked Audie to do this task as she was very powerful in everything she could do, and explained that nothing would be the same if she did this. She still accepted. She went in and it wasn't long after that I had been able to catch Asura and trap him." Lord Death nodded, glancing around to make sure that nobody looked too confused.

"Now, me and Audie and expected her to be insane for a short time after Asura was captured, we weren't expecting what actually happened… she had spent such a long time being insane that it had become part of her, you could say. So she's always been in between; sane and insane." Lord Death sighed.

"I've kept her living so that if ever something like this happened again… I could send her out… Audie's a hero, she's risked her life to make sure that everyone else is safe." Lord Death ended abruptly.

The room was silent for a moment until everyone looked over at the stirring figure that was lying close to Death.

"Ugh!" Audie sat up. "I feel like I just got hit over the head with a sack of bricks." She looked around and realized how big of a crowd was gathered around her. "What'd I miss?"

"Asura has been defeated." Lord Death chuckled, pulling her into his arms.

"That's good… right?" The woman looked at his mask.

"Yes. It's very good." Death nodded.

"So now, maybe, you can start to lose your madness!" Marie smiled.

"But I don't want to." Audie smiled back.

"What?" Azura flashed her glasses.

"Without a little madness, a person would never be brave enough to cut the rope and be free… I need to have a little bit of insanity in my life." Audie chuckled.

"If that's what you want, then the fun is just beginning." Lord Death smiled, quoting what she had told him the day before she had gone to "help" Asura all those years ago.

_A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world. ~John Updike_

_The End_


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